


Marked

by 42_Pangalactic_Gargleblasters (orphan_account)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: College AU, I'll update the tags as I go, I'm spelling it Hanji so deal with that, Levi's just really lonely, M/M, Slow Build, Sorry Not Sorry, Sorry if you spell it Hange....but I'm not doing that, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-06
Updated: 2016-04-17
Packaged: 2018-04-19 09:47:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4741781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/42_Pangalactic_Gargleblasters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every person has a Mark, the image on their skin that Links them to their fated partner, their soulmate. But finding the person with a matching Mark is never guaranteed, and love doesn't just happen on its own. Levi has had his Mark for three years, and it's looking less and less likely that he'll ever find the person he's meant to be with. Eren has had his Mark for three months, and he's starting college full of hopes and dreams. An AU about finding what you need, getting what you want, and fighting for what matters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Mark Like This

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry the first chapter is just exposition, but some things need to be said. I promise to start plot and relationships and all the good stuff next chapter......but this exposition is needed. Anyway, read on and enjoy! ;)

It came at the worst possible moment. He was running down the field during the last play of the championship game. The ball was in his hands. The end zone was near. Just. One. More. Step….. And then it hit. A vicious, burning pain seared between his shoulder blades and slowly spread out to the rest of his back. He screamed. Fell to his knees. Dropped the ball. The game was over, and they had lost.  
  
Nobody cared about that though. Score forgotten, all the people in the stands were focused on the player who had suddenly collapsed. Coaches and medics swarmed the field, crowding around him, asking questions. What is wrong? Where does it hurt?  
  
Eren Jeager did not know how to answer any of these questions. He could only think about the fire that was relentlessly burning away at his skin. He was lost in pain and confusion, and managing out two words, “My...back…”  
  
They were on him in a second. Lifting him up and dragging him off the field. Pulling his helmet off, then his jersey. One of the doctors stepped up, removing his last piece of clothing and exposing his bare back. A few seconds passed in silence. Eren’s pain was dulling then, turning into more of a sweet and sensual burning than a raging inferno. the doctor’s eyes roamed over his back, looking for any obvious injuries, trying to figure out how to help him.  
  
Eren expected to hear the doctor tell him bad news. Expected to hear that he was broken, shattered, scarred beyond the point of fixing. Instead, all he heard was laughter. It started as a low chuckle, then graduated into being a full blown laugh. Everyone else in the room was confused, wondering just what about Eren’s injury was making the doctor so amused.  
  
“That’s one hell of a Mark kid,” came the eventual explanation. Mark. The word permeated the fog of Eren’s mind, registering understanding within him. A Mark was the symbol that would appear on a person’s body between the ages of 17 and 25. Supposedly they connected two fated partners together, two soulmates. With the Mark came the Link, the physical and emotional bond that formed between two people with matching Marks.  
  
Eren had heard that Marks hurt slightly when you got them, but nothing like the pain he’d just felt. And it had covered his whole back. Marks were small, generally no longer than 4 inches across. The image depicted by the Mark varied from couple to couple, but they never exceeded 4 inches in length. All Marked pairs were “meant to be,” but the larger the Mark, the stronger the emotional Link.  
  
Eren’s Mark was definitely not 4 inches or less. It was huge, covering the entirety of his back in a pattern of overlapping wings. They started just below his shoulder blades, then expanded outwards and upwards. One wing glowed a brilliant silver, and partly covered the other which was a rich dark blue.  
  
He stared at them both in the mirror that the coaches had brought to him with amazement. Eren marveled at the symbol on his back trying to wrap his head around the entire concept of it. The wings were undoubtedly a Mark, but they were just so big that he couldn’t quite accept they were real. Besides being the Link between two people, a person’s Mark was also their most sensitive spot. Sort of like a girl’s clit or a guy’s prostate. Except the pleasure center of a Mark could only be activated by the touch of the Marked person’s partner.  
  
With a Mark that size, when Eren found his partner, they would have to be careful around each other. One wrong touch in public could lead to some ridiculously embarrassing moments. If Eren found his partner that is. As people had been learning and re-learning for centuries, things didn’t always work out the way they were supposed to. 90% of the population found the other person bearing their Mark, but the other 10% went through life without ever meeting their other half.  
  
A whistle of appreciation came from Eren’s head coach, Dot Pixis. Like everyone else in the cramped locker room, he was staring at the newly formed wings on Eren’s back. Smiling, he thumped Eren’s shoulder and said, “Wow Jeager. That’s one hell of a Mark.”  
  
The pain was completely gone at that point, and Eren could only nod along with his coach’s words while staring at the wings.  
  
The various other officials in the room all murmured something similar, congratulating him on passing that milestone in his life. Many also wished him good luck and good fortune in finding love. Then Pixis spoke up again, referencing the unusual size of the Mark.  
  
“Screw life milestones and all this true love and soulmates crap,” he winked. “With a Mark like that, the sex will be amazing.”  
  
************************************************************************************************************************************************************************ Levi woke up screaming. His mind was consumed by pain, and his body fared no better. He reached out to his nightstand, searching for something to alleviate the horrible feelings rushing through his veins.  
  
The only thing he was able to get his hands on was his phone. Acting on instinct, Levi hit his call history and dialed the most recent number on it. Three rings later, the other person picked up, and he heard a worried voice ask, “Levi?”  
  
Hanji.  
  
It was Hanji’s voice.  
  
Thank God.  
  
“Hanji….god it hurts.” Levi panted, trying to catch his breath and focus on the phone in his hand.  
  
“Levi! OhmyGodareyouok?” Her words came out in a rush that was too fast for him to understand. When Levi didn’t respond, she took it as a resounding no. “Hang in there ok? I’m coming over.” Hanji hung up then, leaving Levi with his agony to wait.  
  
Five minutes later, he heard the sound of a key in the lock of his front door. Hanji had let herself in with the spare key that he had given to her at the beginning of high school, when it became clear that she much preferred hanging out in his house to staying in her own. Hanji's parents were both very....overbearing. They always wanted to know what was happening, but she wanted privacy. So, she hung out at Levi's place, had been for freshman and sophomore year, and it didn't look like she was going to stop now that they were juniors. But sometimes it was nice to have someone to worry over Levi; he sure as hell wouldn't worry for himself. She rushed to his bed, already freaking out and fussing over him.  
  
“What happened? Where does it hurt? Should I call an ambulance?!?!” Hanji’s voice rose in pitch with each question until she was practically screeching.  
  
Levi scowled. “Fuck Hanji, I’m not dying. I just woke up and my back was hurting, so I called the first number in my history. You didn’t need to come over here and flip out. Calm the fuck down.” He had meant to reassure her that he wasn’t knocking at death’s door, at least as much as he was capable of reassuring anyone, but the words seemed to have the opposite effect.  
  
“Your back hurt? Levi, take off your shirt. Let me see.” Now she sounded excited to find out what had happened. Fucking excited.  
  
“It hurts less now. I can barely feel it. It was probably just a night terror or something. Leave me alone.” He paused, thinking over what she had said. “Also, did you just ask me to strip? You know I’m only interested in guys right?”  
  
Hanji made a face. “Yes Levi. I’m quite aware of you and your spectacular amounts of gayness.” Her expression shifted from one of distaste back to worried. “Are you sure you’re ok though? You sounded awful over the phone, and I know how much it takes to get you to that point.” She was right, he thought. He had a ridiculously high pain threshold, so the amount of pain that it took to overwhelm him the way he had been earlier was massive.  
  
“I’m fine. It went away pretty damn fast after you hung up and rushed over here. I don’t know what the hell happened, but there’s no pain now.” Hanji’s troubled look didn’t go away despite his many attempts at convincing her he was alright.  
  
“Will you at least let me look? I want to make sure you’re really not hurt. I worry about you Levi,” she pleaded.  
  
“Well don’t. I dont need your worry.”  
  
“Pleeeeeaaaasssseeeeee?”  
  
And damnit, Levi cared too much about his friend to ignore an outright beg like that. Even if he’d die before admitting just how much. With an exasperated sigh, Levi turned so his back was facing Hanji and pulled his nightshirt over his head. The second she laid eyes on it, she sucked in a sharp breath. Wondering what she was reacting to, Levi turned his head to ask, and was instead distracted by the sight of his own skin.  
  
Wings.  
  
An image of blue and white wings was spread out over his back, taking up almost every available inch of skin. Those wings looked like magic. Like freedom. Like they could pick Levi up from the ground he was chained to and fly him away into the infinite sky. They were beautiful. They were perfect.  
  
“Oh! It’s gorgeous,” she squealed.  
  
Levi couldn’t stop staring.  
  
“With a Mark like that….” she trailed off, trying to find the right words. “There will be so much love. You’ll be so perfect for each other.”  
  
Levi Ackerman was a pessimist. He didn’t believe in true love or soulmates. He didn’t believe that Marks and Links were magical, just that they were a weird mix of chemicals in his brain fucking up his hormones. At least, that’s what he used to believe. But staring at the wings on his back, and thinking of what they could mean for him, he couldn’t help but hope that Hanji was right.


	2. Trost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren and Levi's first college days. Lots of background, character development and all that good stuff. And even some problems with a little TOO strong of a Link....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohmygosh!!!!!  
> You guys gave me so much positive feedback and nice comments! When I saw it I ran downstairs screeching like a fangirl, and my heart was beating so fast you no idea. I have never smiled so wide so fast before! 
> 
> Thankyouthankyouthankyou to all of my lovely readers, and especially those who commented!
> 
> No Ereri here yet, but I promise it's coming.....so read on
> 
> *excited author noises begin*
> 
> **just wondering.....Ereri (Eren tops) or Riren (Levi tops)? Leave me a comment with your opinion**

It was three months after the game. Three months since Eren’s team, the Shiganshina Cadets had lost the championship by three points. They’d needed that touchdown, but the arrival of Eren’s Mark had stopped them from scoring. Still, Eren couldn’t care less about the game. He had never been serious enough about football to really try anyway. He was just a backup player, and had always planned on dropping it in college.  
  
College. The thought of his freshman year had been hanging over his head all summer. He would be majoring in music, the one thing that always managed to ignite the fires of passion within him. A day never went by without Eren obsessively listening to his favorite playlists. He could play guitar, violin, piano, and the drums. And he could sing. Oh, could he sing.  
  
Eren had picked up football as a hobby in his junior year of high school, mainly because he liked being active and needed an outlet for all of his restless energy. He could only torture his parents and sister with so many hours of electric guitar practice before they forced him out of the house. The football team was a fun thing to be a part of, but most of the other guys wanted to get college scholarships out of it. Eren, being so intent on becoming a musician, wasn’t nearly so intense about the game, and it alienated him from the rest of the players.  
  
This year, he was going to Trost University, which was a couple towns away from Shiganshina. He would finally be able to devote his full attention to music and pursue his dreams. He’d even gotten a job as a performer at a bar near the university. There, he could get some real life experience with being a musician and practice his performances. Eren was excited, perhaps more so than he had ever been before.  
  
It was going to be a great year.  
  
He was pulled from his thoughts by the voice of his mother, Carla.  
  
“Eren! Your guitars are in your room, along with your violin. We left the drum set with your music teacher like you said to.” He nodded along with his mother’s words, finally remembering where he was. The Rose dormitory, in a common room down the hall from his bedroom. It was the day before the start of his freshman year, and Eren was moving into his dorm. His best friend Armin, his adopted sister Mikasa, and his parents were with him to help set his room up and move all his instruments.  
  
Eren had yet to see to his roommate, but they knew each other from high school. He was going to be roommates with Marco Bodt, sweetest boy alive and Shiganshina’s own Freckled Jesus. He had been given both titles because of various instances throughout middle and high school which proved that he was indeed, the most kind, generous, and helpful person that anyone in Shiganshina had ever met.  
  
All in all, Eren’s college life was shaping up quite nicely. Music major, art minor, and general classes in history, literature and math. He ticked off all his classes on his fingers as he thought of them, already planning how his days would be laid out.  
  
Carla quickly pulled him into a hug, interrupting his train of thought. His mother buried her face in his hair, holding his well-built frame in a bone crushing grip. She was getting emotional over his leaving, despite the fact that she would still live relatively close to him. They could still visit each other. And talk over the phone. She didn’t seem to remember any of that though, because she whispered to Eren, “I love you sweetie. Have a good time ok?” Carla then proceeded to cry quietly, still holding her son. He awkwardly pat her on the back, and squeezed out a,  
  
“Love you too Mom.”  
  
After several more minutes of hugging and crying, his mother was pulled off of Eren by a concerned looking Grisha. Not concerned for Eren of course, just for his wife. Once it was clear that her emotional breakdown was momentarily over, Grisha turned to his son.  
  
“Make sure to keep up your grades in your general classes. I don’t want to hear that you’re failing history because of too many hours spent on that damn violin.”  
  
Eren rolled his eyes. This again. Over the course of his nineteen years of life, Eren’s father had given him a speech almost identical to the one he was giving now more times than Eren was capable of counting. Hundreds at the very least. Maybe even thousands.  
  
“Yeah yeah, whatever.” Grisha stepped forward, ready to put Eren in his place for such words, but Carla cut him off. The sadness was gone from her expression, replaced by determination.  
  
“It’s alright honey. He’ll keep his grades up, I’m sure.” Grisha grunted and backed off, but the anger didn’t leave his eyes. He and Eren had always been bickering and fighting over little things, ever since Eren had discovered the wonderful world of sarcasm. Still, his father’s little jibes, and his own willingness to fight weren’t exactly helping to fix the problem.  
  
Before Eren could argue against his mother’s statement, Armin and Mikasa walked in. Armin’s sky blue eyes were sparkling, oblivious to the tension in the room.  
  
“Are you ready to go?” he asked sweetly. Their plan was to grab lunch together and explore the campus a bit before setting up Armin’s room. Mikasa had moved all her things earlier that day. Then they’d prepare for classes the next day, and in Eren’s case try, and fail, to sleep.  
  
“Yup,” he answered simply. Saying his last goodbyes to both parents, Eren walked off with his friends. As they headed to a local sandwich shop, he pushed all thoughts of Grisha and their fights from his mind. Nothing was going to ruin his day. He was ready to start a new chapter of his life, and his father was not going to be part of it.  
  
Eren was sure. This was going to be an amazing year.  
  
************************************************************************************************************************************************************************  
Levi was feeling excited again. School was starting up, and that meant he could go to class and meet lots of new friends! He couldn’t wait to talk to new people, and go to parties, and be social and friendly!  
  
Wait…..  
  
No  
  
No  
  
Fuck no.  
  
Levi hated new people and being social. He only went to parties, or out at all, if one of his friends dragged him there. Actually, thinking on it, he was quite fed up with the friends he already had. He sure as hell didn’t want more. He felt betrayed by the thoughts coming from his mind.  
  
No. Those thoughts were his, but they weren’t from him. They were coming through his Mark, through his Link. Whoever it was that bore the twin to his Mark was starting school and was too damn happy about it.  
  
He sighed, running a hand through his raven black hair. For the past two weeks, he had been getting feelings like the one that had just invaded his mind. He’d feel abnormally sad, excited, scared or angry. Despite the thoughts being within his own mind, Levi could somehow feel that they came from the mysterious person who he was Linked to. It has gotten to the point where his actual thoughts were affected by the foreign feelings.  
  
It was annoying as hell.  
  
Levi was most certainly not excited about going back to school. He was starting his second year at Trost University. Majoring in ancient/dead languages, and minoring in mythology, he couldn’t honestly say that every day wasn’t interesting. What he could say was that the amount of work it took to get halfway decent grades in both subjects was far more than he had originally bargained for. Not to mention all the classes that weren’t for his major or minor that he still had to keep up with.  
  
You could say that Levi was quite the opposite of excited for the year to start.  
  
He had moved all of his things into his dorm room weeks before, ensuring that he would have absolutely nothing that he needed to do during his last days of summer. Thankfully, his room was a single, making sure that he wouldn’t have any roommate problems like he had freshman year. Whenever he was asked about it, Levi would only stare and kindly tell the asker to “go fuck themselves and get the hell out of his life.”  
  
It was a bit of a touchy subject.  
  
He had one day left of freedom before assignments would take up all his time. One. Day. He wanted to hit something. Or someone. So Levi did just that.  
  
As a kid, Levi had had some serious anger issues, mostly due to his parents and their lame-ass parenting skills. All of that anger had been taken out on the people around him until Erwin came around. After insulting Levi’s kicking technique, and beating him in several fights, Erwin convinced Levi to take some lessons at a nearby karate dojo. Reluctant as he was at first, Levi quickly discovered that actually learning and practising fighting was a much better outlet for his anger than his school’s nerd population.  
  
He kept going to lessons until he could easily defeat every instructor in the dojo. Then he moved on to a new martial art and learned that. From 8th grade onward, he dedicated more time and energy to his mastery of martial arts and fighting technique than he had to anything else. Needless to say, all his hard work paid off. It was Levi after all.  
  
Now, Levi had achieved the highest rank possible in karate, taekwondo, judo, and jujutsu. He also knew how to fight using a combination of elements from all of those techniques, effectively creating one unbeatable style of fighting. He had yet to meet an opponent that he couldn’t defeat, and it wasn’t for lack of trying.  
  
With skills like Levi’s, it was hard not to attract all sorts of other fighters looking for a challenge. He didn’t enter any competitions; always claiming that he couldn’t be bothered to follow rules when it was a fight, but that didn’t stop people from going to him. After completely destroying his first few challengers, word quickly spread throughout all the wrong circles. Several surprise fights later, Levi realised that they weren’t going to stop coming, and decided to try and at least keep his real name and location from the general public. So, he started introducing himself as “The Corporal,” and proceeding to beat the shit out of anyone who dared to come after him. The name caught on fast, quickly becoming something to be respected and feared in the world of martial arts.  
  
He never got sick of watching his opponent’s faces when they learned that the infamous “Corporal” was a twenty-year old college student.  
  
A 5’ 3” twenty-year old college student.  
  
On days like this, when he really just needed to punch something, Levi headed to Sina Dojo. The people there always let him in free, saying that the only payment they desired was to spar with him and learn from his abilities. He’d head to the gray mat in the corner, a corner that was always completely spotless just for him, and practice until his muscles gave out or something else dragged him away.  
  
Usually Hanji.  
  
She was always trying to drag him to something.  
  
Not on the last day of summer though.  
  
On that day he punched and kicked until he couldn’t continue any longer, all the time hoping and dreaming that his Link would stop messing with his emotions once school started.  
But no one knew more than Levi that hopes and dreams don’t always come true.  
  
************************************************************************************************************************************************************************  
All of Eren’s hopes and dreams were coming true. Music classes were turning out to be better than he’d ever expected. For his major, Eren was taking one music theory class, a music history class, and two classes that dealt with actually writing and playing music. Two weeks into his time at Trost, and Eren was already playing the violin better than he ever had before. Life was good. Except for a few things……..  
  
One of those things was math class. Eren had always been more artistically inclined than anything else, and things made no sense to him when written in numbers. Especially with algebra. He hated unknowns in math. They made already confusing problems even worse.  
  
f(x•n)+3 = gx+(n•6)? What the ever living hell was he supposed to do with that gibberish?  
  
Still, he’d made it to college level math, proving that it was manageable at least. No, math wasn’t Eren’s biggest problem. Eren’s biggest problem was his Link. Or rather, the things he had been feeling through his Link.  
  
Non mortem, somni fratrem. That was just one of the random sentences that had been filling his mind at random times for the past few days. He had no idea what it meant, or even what language it was in. Latin? Greek? Probably Latin, it sounded like something Armin had tried teaching him back in their high school Latin class.  
  
But the random Latin phrases weren’t the only thing coming through his Link. More than once, Eren had woken up to his muscles feeling like lead and a pounding headache. On those mornings, it was nearly impossible to name a part of his body that wasn’t aching. He felt like he’d been in a fight. Or six. Or ten. And that he’d lost all of them. Sometimes he could barely walk to classes because of the pain, making him wonder how the person he was Linked to even lived. It also made him wonder how someone could be that bad at fighting. Or that good. Regardless, it was getting on Eren’s nerves.  
  
Other than the strange mind beatings, (as he referred to the pains coming through his Link) things were working out. He was getting ready for his first performance at The Basement, the club he’d gotten a job at. It was only for a few songs, a test run per say, but it still had Eren overflowing with excitement. He had an awesome playlist ready, and had been practising singing while playing all of his instruments, so he could use any of them that he wanted without having to give up the position of vocalist. He loved being the vocalist.  
  
Eren was determined to make the performance go well. This job had not been easy to get. He had begged, pleaded, and begged some more. He had called in all the favors he could, and promised quite a few favors himself just to get the interview.  
  
Though when he’d gotten there, the only thing the manager needed to agree to a trial night was one look at his face. He didn’t even have to sing more than a few bars of a song before the guy was offering him a deal. “Do a few songs one Friday. If it goes well, then we’ll make this a weekly thing, okay?”  
  
As if Eren would ever turn down an offer like that.  
  
He started heading to his dorm room, it was all the way across the campus from his literature class, when another random thought popped into his head.  
  
Ab uno disce omnes.  
  
“Shit,” Eren swore. Whoever he was Linked to needed to chill it with the Latin.  
  
***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************  
Levi had been right about the work load. Three projects, two essays, and nightly homework. And it had only been two fucking weeks. So he couldn’t help but complain to his friends…..  
  
“Two fucking essays Erwin. Two. And three projects. They’re trying to kill me.”  
  
Erwin, damn his Captain America-like good looks, just smiled and said,  
  
“You knew what it would take when you picked your major Levi. The only person you can blame is yourself.”  
  
He should have known that his friends wouldn’t exactly be helpful.  
  
And he couldn’t tell them what his real problem was. Levi did not want to admit just how much his Link was affecting him. He would feel ecstatic for no reason at all, then feel absolutely depressed for even less of a reason. He would think strange things like, The chord progression isn’t right, or find himself wondering why she was still wearing the goddamned scarf in this weather. Who was she? What scarf? Levi didn’t know, but he wanted to.  
  
He really wanted to.  
  
Levi remembered a comment that Erwin had made off-hand,  
  
“With a Mark as big as yours, I can’t wait to see how you act when you meet your partner.”  
  
That had caused Levi an unfair amount of pain. When, Erwin had said. When, he met his partner. Not if.  
  
But it was an if to Levi. He was short, foul-mouthed, and foul tempered. Levi didn’t understand how anyone could love him unconditionally like everyone seemed to assume would happen. He had no guarantee that they’d ever meet, much less actually fall in love.  
  
But he hoped they would. He wanted it. Needed it.  
  
Because Levi was so lonely.  
  
Though he would never admit it, even in his mind, it was there. He was lonely, and the thought of a soulmate seemed so impossible that it was ridiculous.  
  
He pushed those thoughts from his mind, deciding to do the one thing that could always distract his thoughts for more than a few minutes. Hit something.  
  
**************************************************************************************************************************************************************************  
Later that night, Levi went to Sina Dojo.  
  
Later that night, Eren practised his guitar.

Later that night, both found themselves thinking about the other, and hoping that fate would bring them together soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So.....what did everyone think? I'm going to post every Saturday or Sunday, and maybe other days if I finish a chapter early. Does that work for everyone?
> 
> Just in case you're wondering, there is a point to Eren's football background, but he's just artsy deep down 
> 
> Haha.......
> 
> Anyway, I promise some real action soon, but I need to set stuff up and things. Meh. I swear, I want to write the Ereri as much as you want to read it!
> 
> So COMMENT ME! I love to read people's opinions and suggestions, don't hold back! Even if it's just something random, I'd love to read it!
> 
> Thanks again dear readers!  
> ~your ridiculously happy author


	3. The Basement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Here's the third chapter (FINALLY), which has definitely been the most fun so far to write. You guys are all so awesome and supportive *fangirl screech* and I love it! So thank you thank you thank you!
> 
> Also, I asked last chapter of people wanted Ereri (Eren tops) or Riren (Levi tops). Most of you said Riren, so that's what it's gonna be when we get to that point *waggles eyebrows*, but I get that some people only like Ereri, so when I get to a point where that starts to matter, I think I'll have a link to an Ereri oneshot set in the same world with the Marks and everything so non Riren shippers don't hate me. 
> 
> Plus, I want to clear up that Levi got his Mark in his junior year of high school, and is a second year in college in the current timeline. Eren got his in his senior year of high school, before the summer. The first chapter was not written in the same time period during the perspective switch, so sorry if I confused you. BUT THEY'RE IN THE SAME TIMELINE NOW SO DON'T WORRY!
> 
> Anyway....................on with the chapter!

“Come on Big Bro, please? Plleeeeaaasssseeee?”  
  
Levi fixed his friend with an impassive look. She had been begging for the past five minutes, but he had given no reaction at all. He would not give in. Not again.  
  
“It’s my birthday Levi! You have to come!”  
  
It was indeed Isabel’s birthday. Or, it would be in a few days. She was throwing a party to celebrate, and was adamant on having all her friends there. All her friends included one very anti social Levi Ackerman, who was absolutely positive that he did not want to go to any sort of public gathering. Still, if Isabel was anything then she was determined, and her mind that Tuesday afternoon was set on getting him to go to her party on Saturday.  
  
When his face remained uncaring, she decided that it was time to change tactics. Crossing her arms and staring straight into his eyes, Isabel said, “Fine. If you won’t come to my party, then I’ll be forced to track mud all over your dorm room.” She stopped for a moment, a devious smile spreading across her face. “And I’ll spit in your cups. All of them.”  
  
That, Levi was sure, was one of the most disgusting threats he had ever heard. But damn if it wasn’t effective.  
  
He set his face in an angry mask before responding. “You wouldn’t.” Anyone else would have been scared shitless at the tone of his voice. Unfortunately, Isabel had gotten used to him over the years, and took his threats a lot more lightly than she probably should have.  
  
“You know I would. You also know that Hanji would be more than willing to help,” she smirked, “and nobody can get a room dirty like Hanji can.”  
  
“Fuck.”  
  
She was right. Hanji would love nothing more than an excuse to get on Levi’s nerves, and Isabel would love nothing more than to give Hanji that excuse. They were a dangerous team when they worked together, especially when working towards the common goal of making his life hell. He had no choice.  
  
“Fine.” Just because he was agreeing didn’t mean he had to like it.  
  
“So you’ll come?” she squealed.  
  
“It’s either I come or you spit in my cups,” was his exasperated reply.  
  
Isabel knew a “yes” from Levi when she heard one.  
  
“Yay! It’s going to be so awesome!” Bouncing in circles around him she sang, “Levi’s going to my party, Levi’s going to my party.” He just scowled, thanking the gods he didn’t believe in that the party was going to be in a club. There was no way he could make it through any sort of event if he had to actually speak to people instead of just pretending to listen to the music. He wanted to get the whole damn thing over with. Saturday couldn’t come fast enough.  
  
*******************************************************************************************************************************************************************  
“Sorry Armin, I can’t. I’ve got a gig playing at The Basement on Saturday,” Eren explained. That weekend, Armin had been planning to go out with Eren, Mikasa, and a few friends that he’d made in class. Unfortunately, he was in high demand at his new job so he couldn’t go.  
  
Well, maybe it wasn’t that unfortunate.  
  
Eren couldn’t be happier with the way his trial run at The Basement had gone. He sang with a band called Titan, and they were great. A really hot blonde girl named Annie was on drums, with her two friends Reiner and Bertolt on guitar and piano. They had been looking for a vocalist, so the owner of the club set Eren up with them, and things really took off. The first night they played ‘Holiday’ by Green Day, ‘Jeremy’ by Pearl Jam, ‘Uprising’ by Muse, and ‘Kryptonite’ by 3 Doors Down. Reiner was seriously good at playing guitar, and Eren had a great time singing covers of some of his favorite songs.  
  
Apparently the crowd had a great time too, because the cheering was so loud when they left the stage that he wondered how his ears still worked afterwards. The various members of Titan all gave him a warm welcome to the band, and the manager asked them back for a show the next night too. After an extremely successful second performance, Eren became the official lead singer of Titan, and Titan became a permanent fixture at The Basement. They were even specially requested to play at a party on Saturday. Thus, Eren could not go out with Armin and the others. Not that he minded much.  
  
“Really?” Armin asked. “Wow, they must really like you if you’ve already been booked for weekend events.” Eren flushed slightly at the praise. Nothing, he’d discovered, was more gratifying than knowing that others enjoyed hearing you do what you were passionate about. Having Armin say it straight out like that felt amazing, even if it was slightly embarrassing. He’d never even heard them play. But…...he had heard Eren play on more than one occasion.  
  
“Yeah, a girl named Isabel is turning twenty, and she wanted us to play at her party.” Armin raised his eyebrows at the mention of the girl’s age.  
  
“Twenty? Are you even allowed to have parties in a place that sells alcohol before you’re twenty-one?”  
  
Eren snorted. “Wouldn’t this have been a good thing to ask when I told you that I got a job at a club with a bar? I’m younger than she is Armin.”  
  
“But you’re a performer not a customer. It’s different.” He fixed Armin with a stare that seemed to say, Don’t BS me. If Eren wanted to order a beer after a performance, nobody would stop him. In fact, Reiner was around Eren’s age, and he’d definitely had a Guinness after the second show that Titan did.  
  
Sighing, Armin accepted that he was right. He changed the topic and asked, “Do you guys know what songs you’re going to play?”  
  
Eren groaned, throwing his head into his hands in dismay. “No fucking clue. I figured that I should sing something birthday-ish, but I have no ideas in that category. They’d all be really cheesy or just plain terrible songs. I really don’t know what I’m going to do,” he whined.  
  
Teasingly, Armin said, “You could always sing ‘Birthday’ by Katy Perry. That’s pretty ‘birthday-ish’.” He put air quotes around the word “birthday-ish,” mocking his friend for using such an unsophisticated vocabulary.  
  
Eren scowled. “No way in hell Armin. We both know what that song is about.”  
  
“But you can totally hit the high notes!” Gifted with a freakishly wide vocal range, Eren received endless teasing from his friends about being able to sing in a high register. So what if he totally sounded like a girl. He didn’t care. Nope. Not embarrassing. Not at all.  
  
Lying to yourself isn’t helping Eren.  
  
“NO, and that’s final. I will not make myself out for public mockery.” He shook his head back and forth as he spoke, making sure that he stopped Armin’s teasing before it could really get started.  
  
All his words were met with was a small chuckle from Armin as he collected his things. Studying to be an archaeologist, he had a lot more, harder classes than Eren did, so he couldn’t usually talk for long. Throwing books and folders into a backpack, he said, “I’m sure you’ll think of something. Remember that time when your guitar broke in the middle of a song and you had to do the solo as a violin improvisational piece? If you can do that then you can come up with a playlist for one party.”  
  
Eren nodded, waving to Armin as he left, and remembering the day he had mentioned. It was during their second year of high school, in the middle of Shiganshina’s talent show. He had the role of playing backup for various other students’ songs. The time Armin had been talking about was during a performance of ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ by Nirvana.  
  
He was playing electric guitar while the performer, a boy named Nick, sang. Right after the second repetition of the chorus, and right before the guitar solo, his top string broke with a sharp twang and an awful screeching sound. He panicked a bit, but Nick just kept singing, repeating the chorus to give him some time to figure things out. Since the solo was coming up he couldn’t keep going a cappella without it sounding awkward.  
  
Eren did the only thing he could think of in the heat of the moment. He picked up the violin that was sitting in its case by his feet, meant to be used in the next act, and started playing. He knew all the chords to the song by heart, and used that to translate the guitar music into notes playable by a violin in his mind, all while still on stage. It was impressive to say the least. Due to both of their quick thinking, the rest of the song went perfectly, and the cheers after they finished were deafening.  
  
Nick and Eren both got lots of compliments for weeks after the show, and it was a large part of what led Eren to exploring more rock and pop music uses for his violin. That night, once all the performers had left school and gone home, he stayed in the band room translating his guitar solos into violin music. It became his favorite instrument because of that, and he had never been more thankful that his strings broke.  
  
He smiled then, mentally thanking Armin for his piece of advice. He knew just what he was going to do for the party.  
  
*****************************************************************************************************************************************************************  
Levi hated his Mythology professor. He hated her like he hated everything else, strongly and with a love for showing it. Ever since she had called him “short stuff” on the first day of classes, Levi had made it his personal mission to make Professor Hitch’s life hell. She was always correcting his language and picking on him during discussions. Fine, he had decided, you want to dance? Let’s dance bitch.  
  
He made sure to add a snarky comment to his sentences whenever possible, which was quite often for a troublemaker of Levi’s caliber. Whenever she said something even mildly questionable, he would question it. Whenever she made a grammar mistake, he would correct it. Levi wasn’t just an average troublemaker. He was a brilliant one. Despite all his sass and sarcasm, he always turned homework in on time and completely correct. He made sure that his grades were impeccable, and Hitch was smart enough to recognize a great student when she saw one.  
  
Sometimes though, his professor said things that made her sound like a complete idiot. One of those times was the Friday before Isabel’s party. Since Marks were so important in society, and because of their almost magical nature, they were a common topic in a class like Mythology. So, of course, they would end up studying nothing but Marks for a few days. And, of course, Hitch would start talking about things she knew nothing about.  
  
“Alright class. Before we go any further into ancient Greek mythology, we need to spent some time on Marks. I’ll give you some basic information today, and we will go more in depth later this week.” She turned toward her computer, bringing up a slideshow called ‘Soulmates and Science.’ As she presented, Levi took meticulous notes in a black composition notebook. He was borderline obsessive with note taking, and it always paid off when teachers gave pop-quizzes.

Soulmates and Science Notes

The Mark will appear on an individual between the ages of 17 and 25

Marks will be an image that varies from person to person

Two “soulmates” or “fated partners” will have the same image in the same place on their bodies

Marks will not always appear on both individuals at the same time

Marks come with Links, the mental connection between two individuals that allows them to pick up on each other’s emotions

The larger the Mark, the stronger the Link

Two matching Marks will “activate” when they come within 2 feet of each other

When two Marks “activate” the individuals who bear them will become aware of each other’s presence, and the strength of the Link will increase

Marks are the most sensitive/sensual place on an individual’s body

There is never more than one Mark on each individual

Marks never exceed 4 inches of length  
  
Levi surveyed his notes, thinking about the new information. He knew most of it, but #7 and #8 were not things he had heard before. Interesting. On the other hand, #11 was just plain false. He felt smug about being living proof that his annoying professor was wrong. He couldn’t wait to show her up, especially with the undeniable evidence of her mistake covering his back.  
  
Once she saw that everyone was done with their notes, or finally awake again, Hitch asked, “Does anyone have anything else they would like to add to our list? Any other facts the class should know?” Most of the students in the room shook their heads, and the rest simply ignored the question. Levi’s hand was the only one in the air.  
  
He politely waited for his professor to call on him, no matter how much reluctance she showed to do so. With an almost respectful voice, and a completely straight face, he said, “That last fact is bullshit.”  
  
Hitch rolled her eyes in exasperation, all too used to Levi’s foul mouth. She knew what he was doing, calling her out like that, and she did not intend to let him get away with it.  
“That is a proven fact Levi, so I don’t want to hear you arguing against it just for the sake of disagreeing with me. Besides, you should know not to make a claim without any factual evidence to back it up.” He smirked, happy that the conversation was going just the way he wanted it to.  
  
“I have evidence to back it up,” he replied smoothly.  
  
“Let’s hear it then,” she said, throwing up her hands in anger.  
  
“It’s less of something you hear and more of something you see, and I don’t think it’s something you really want to see now,” Levi drawled.  
  
Aggravation started to show in Hitch’s expression. Those words were a challenge, and she knew it. They challenged her to make him prove it, challenged her to play the game that he was trying to drag her into. Damn the repercussions. She wouldn’t let a student push her around in her own classroom. She would not back down.  
  
“Prove it Ackerman.”  
  
He arched an eyebrow. Last name instead of first. She was pissed.  
  
“Okay,” he feigned reluctance, “but remember, you told me to.”  
  
Levi slowly closed his notebook, and laid his pencil down next to it. Then, he stood up from his chair and turned so his back was facing Hitch and the rest of the class. In one fluid movement, he pulled his shirt off. The fabric ruffled the hair in his undercut as he pulled it over his head. He let the shirt pool around his wrists, uncovering his back but not completely removing it. With his arms in front of his torso, his back muscles flexed in ways that did not go unnoticed by the other students in the room. Levi was pretty fucking attractive, and he knew it.  
  
After several long moments, Hitch asked, “That’s your Mark?” His definitely more than 4 inches long Mark, yeah. Her voice sounded strained. Probably because one of her students had just partially stripped and was standing shamelessly in front of a room full of his peers. But he had no reason to feel shame for it. A side effect of being a martial arts master was building up huge amounts of muscle. He had never been the shy type anyway.  
  
“Yeah,” was the only thing he said back. Levi kept his voice monotonous, betraying none of his feelings of victory. Hitch had accepted his challenge, and she had lost.  
  
“Well then,” she grimaced, “I suppose I stand corrected.”  
  
Oh yes, she had lost.  
  
*******************************************************************************************************************************************************************  
The Basement was packed. Every table was full, and there were still tons of people on the dance floor. Some nameless dubstep song was playing while Titan set up to perform. When he had talked to the band about his idea for the night’s show, everyone had readily agreed, telling him that he should save it as the last song of the show. They had also talked about all the other songs they were going to do, and everything had been sorted out. Now all Eren wanted was to get started.  
  
The dubstep music stopped, giving Eren his cue to step up and introduce the band. He put his lips close to the mic and recited the words that had quickly become the band’s standard intro.  
  
“I’m Eren, we’re Titan, and this,” he paused slightly, “is ‘Bring Me To Life.’”  
  
The crowd roared and cheered as Bertolt played the first few notes of piano.

How can you see into my eyes  
Like open doors?  
Leading you down into my core  
Where I’ve become so numb

He had to bring the song down a few notes to fit easily into his range, trying to avoid hitting the top of his range in the first song of the night. Nobody seemed to mind the difference, or even notice it. They were all too focused on the guitar that Reiner had begun playing at the end of the first few lines. And Eren himself was gone, too lost in the music to really notice his surroundings at all.

Without a soul  
My spirit sleeping somewhere cold  
Until you find it there and lead  
It  
Back  
Home

Eren shut his eyes, changing from a boy to a voice. He wasn’t Eren Jeager anymore. He was a series of notes hanging in the air, a chorus of sound ringing through the darkness.

(Wake me up)  
Wake me up inside!  
(I can’t wake up)  
Wake me up inside!

(Save me)  
Call my name and save me from the dark  
(Wake me up)  
Bid my blood to run

(I can’t wake up)  
Before I come undone  
(Save me)  
Save me from the nothing I’ve become

He was the music and the melody and the pounding drums. He was the emotion trapped inside the words of his song, and he would set himself free.

Now that I know  
What I’m without  
You can’t just leave me

Breathe into me  
And make me real  
Bring me  
To life

In that moment he was everything.  
And in that moment he was nothing.  
***********************************************************************************************************************************************************************  
Levi still couldn’t believe that he’d let himself be dragged here. To a loud, messy, overcrowded club that apparently only played shitty dubstep music. He was hesitant to even breathe the air in such a place, because there was no way it met his standards of cleanliness. The press of bodies and smell of booze permeated the air like a stain. It was disgusting.  
  
Still, his bad mood could only last for a minute. After one more bad song, he started to feel excited. Ready. He felt the unexplainable urge to go. It was his Link again. The feeling stayed until the live entertainment came onstage. A voice called out through the crowd, introducing them.  
  
“I’m Eren, we’re Titan, and this is ‘Bring Me To Life.’”  
  
Normally, Levi wouldn’t give a fuck about some little wanna-be band, but something about the voice drew him. The boy attached to the voice drew him even more. Wearing a simple green shirt, sinfully tight jeans, and a key necklace that pulled Levi’s attention to his sleek collarbones and tan skin, the guy looked like a seductive demon sent to lure innocent virgins to hell.  
  
Heaven was overrated anyway.  
  
People would date until they got their Marks, generally ending relationships when they did, as a way of “staying true” to their soulmate. Some continued dating past that point, knowing that when they found “the one” it would lead to an awkward breakup, but doing it nonetheless. Levi was one of the second group, refusing to not date people just because of his Mark. He’d deal with the awkwardness if it ever came to that.  
  
He really hoped that this Eren kid didn’t have his Mark yet, or was at least of the same mentality as Levi. And gay. One of the biggest disappointments to Levi was finding a hot guy who only wanted to fuck girls. A missed opportunity is what he called it. Hoping that Eren was in fact, gay, Levi went back to listening.

Frozen inside  
Without your touch  
Without your love  
Darling

Only you  
Are the life  
Among the dead

As he sang, Levi was mesmerized. That voice was reaching out and slamming down his walls, destroying his barriers. It was forcing its way through everything Levi had built up to keep the world away. To keep his emotions hidden. It was all crumbling.

All this time  
I can’t believe I couldn’t see  
Kept in the dark  
But you were there in front of me

I’ve been sleeping a thousand years  
It seems  
Got to open my eyes  
to everything

Without love  
Without a voice  
Without a soul  
(Don’t let me die here)  
There must be something more!

He had been hiding for far too long. The song made him feel that more strongly than he ever had before. He had been hiding from the world, hiding from himself. And when the next words came, Levi felt the deepest parts of him cry out with them.

Bring me to life!  
(Wake me up)  
Wake me up inside  
(I can’t wake up)  
Wake me up inside

(Save me)  
Call my name and save me from the dark  
(Wake me up)  
Bid my blood to run

(I can’t wake up)  
Before I come undone  
(Save me)  
Save me from the nothing I’ve become

Bring me to life

In the middle of a smelly, crowded club with a gorgeous boy singing like the song was meant only for him, he lived.  
***********************************************************************************************************************************************************************  
As he held out the last note of the song, Eren felt his mind return to his body, coming down from its high. Energy ran through the room and up into his feet, giving him the rush that only came from performing. He wanted more, more, more. He wanted for the feeling to never stop. He never wanted to stop.  
  
Immediately, Titan jumped into the next song, speeding things up a bit with some faster rock music. Eren was captivated by the way the crowd moved to the beat of Annie’s drums, the way they swayed with the words he sang. It passed all too quickly, and they were running out of time. Each performer only got a certain amount of time onstage after all. But he still had one last thing to do.  
  
As Reiner played out their last song, Eren studied the tables in the back where he knew all the people from the birthday party were sitting. His eyes settled on a girl with red hair sitting in the middle of the group and grinning like she had just won the lottery. A boy’s arm was wrapped around her shoulders, and he was whispering in her ear. Judging by the looks of everyone else gathered in that area, she was the birthday girl.  
  
He spoke towards her, saying, “I heard we’ve got a special guest with us tonight. Happy birthday Isabel, this one’s for you.” He winked, then chuckled when the redhead yelled back “Thanks!”  
  
The disc Annie had inserted started playing, and Eren picked up his violin. He set it on his shoulder, bow raised and ready to start. He started the song without any preamble, quickly forming the first few notes while he waited for the backing track to really get going. It was an electronic beat, with a sound that phased in and out while still keeping a driving rhythm.  
The sound of the track kept him focused, kept him mind on the violin in his hands and out of the clouds. Higher, louder, stronger, he played. The instrument sang out with words he did not have, with a voice of its own. He played in and out with the beat, the sound of his playing and the electronic track dancing together in the air.  
  
While he was lost in his music, time passed both quickly and not at all. It may have been seconds, it may have been years, but all he knew was that the end was coming. The notes built up and up and up, like a dam barely holding back a flood of water.  
  
And he stopped.  
  
6  
  
For six beats of silence he stopped, before raising his bow again and launching into the song with ten times more energy than before.  
  
He drew it out, pulling all he could from his mind, from his heart, from the instrument in his grip. He poured everything he had into the last phrases of music, and was left with nothing. Completely and utterly spent. When it was over, there was silence. He looked out on the sea of people, watching as their expressions changed from excited to awed and clapping broke out. Nobody in their right mind claps in a club, but they did, and Eren loved it. He beamed his brightest smile out at them before leaving the stage to pack up his instruments.  
  
Eren had planned to pack up, then head to his dorm room for the rest of the night. But as he was walking out, a pair of hands grabbed him around the waist and he heard a squeal.  
  
“You’re Eren right?!? I’m Isabel! You can call me Izzy.”  
  
Oh. It was the girl who was celebrating her birthday that night. Behind her was a small group of people, presumably her friends, including the guy that had been holding her earlier. Up close, Eren could see the matching symbol of two roads crossing on the side of their necks. Marks.  
  
“I really liked the violin song you did at the end. It was so cool with the electronic bit and……” She kept going, but Eren could no longer understand her words. Isabel talked like her mind was moving 100 miles an hour and her mouth was struggling to keep up. She spoke so fast that he had lost track of what she was saying around the words “at the end.” His confusion must have showed on his face because the boy with Isabel’s Mark said, “Slow down Izz. You’re talking too fast for him to keep up.”  
  
Upon hearing his words, Izzy grinned sheepishly.  
  
“Right. That happens sometimes.” She pointed to the boy who had just spoken. “That’s Farlan. We’re Marked for each other.” She gestured between them while explaining, just in case she was still going too fast. He learned that the tall, blond man was Erwin, the one with crazy looking glasses was Hanji, the one that smelled Eren after meeting him was Mike, the quiet brunette was Petra, and the last member of the group was Levi.  
  
Levi. Damn was he attractive. With dark hair styled in an undercut and steel gray eyes that looked like they could kill with a glance, Levi was easily one of the most attractive people that Eren had ever seen. Briefly, he wondered if Levi had already found his soulmate, before deciding that he had not. Eren didn’t know how he knew that, he just did.  
  
“It’s nice to meet everyone,” he said.  
  
“Anyway, I wanted to come here to say thanks, and to have you meet Levi. When you were singing he was totally checking you out!”  
  
A look of mild horror crossed Levi’s face before turning to anger. He looked quite ready to strangle Isabel for saying that.  
  
“What the fuck Isabel?” he roared. “I wasn’t fucking checking him out.”  
  
Farlan snorted. “Yes you were.”  
  
“Yep.”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“You were staring the whole time.”  
  
“And you said something about him being ‘too goddamned attractive.’”  
  
Levi turned his death glare on the whole group, shooting them a look that could make war hardened soldiers run crying for their mommies.  
  
Eren found it hilarious.  
  
“You think I’m attractive?” Eren kept his voice low and teasing, wondering what kind of reaction he would get.  
  
With a completely straight face, Levi responded, “Yeah. You’re pretty damn hot.”  
  
Eren felt a blush rising to his cheeks, but he fought it off.  
  
“You’re not so bad yourself.”  
  
That got a smirk from the other man. “Oh yeah?” he challenged.  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
At that, Levi stepped forward, coming almost chest to chest with Eren. To do what, Eren didn’t know. But what he did know was that the moment Levi came close to him a familiar pain erupted across his back. The burning felt just like it had three months ago on the football field. It felt like it had when his Mark had first appeared. And suddenly, he knew what was happening.  
******************************************************************************************************************************************************************  
The pain working its way across Levi’s back was not new. He remembered the feeling, remembered the flames. It felt like it had three years ago, when he had learned that somewhere in the vast world there was someone meant only for him. It felt like it had when those wings had first appeared on his skin. He knew it then, felt it in his core, in his soul.  
  
Gray eyes lifted to meet blue ones, and both felt the same fire.  
  
Gray eyes lifted to meet blue ones, and both felt the same Mark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So............what did you guys think? Did their meeting live up to your expectations? *prays to every god I know of that it did*  
> Leave me a comment telling me what you thought, or what sucked,or any spelling mistakes I made.  
> (This is self-edited so there's probably a lot of little mistakes)  
> Just comment, because I love nothing more than hearing from you guys!
> 
> The song Titan sang was "Bring Me To Life" by Evanescence which is [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEy6WPB_txw)  
> The Nightmare version of that (which I honestly prefer) is [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL-2Cu6zSNk)
> 
> And the violin song Eren did was "Roundtable Rival" by Lindsey Stirling which is [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvipPYFebWc)
> 
> Thanks again dear readers. Until next week!  
> ~your exhausted author


	4. Wings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow ok, so I'm a total jerk for taking this long to post. School and family and just life in general got in the way for a few months, but it's a new year and I'm determined not to let random crap stop me from writing again. Thanks to everyone who read, and special shoutout to those of you who commented encouragement, it really helped me work through some stuff. Thanks again, and enjoy the chapter!

Their eyes could only lock for a moment before the pain pulled them away again. The fact that such a pain was familiar did nothing to dull it. Eren’s back hit something solid, a wall or the floor or anything else he couldn’t tell, his eyes were shut too tight to be able to interpret his surroundings. He heard a similar thump from a few feet away, but that was even more unclear than what his back was pressed up against. Voices filled with panic, a couple octaves up from normal, swam around in his consciousness, each demanding attention and all adding to the chaos in his mind.   
Eren could feel nothing coming through his Link other than the same pain he felt in his body. This was strange, seeing as every waking moment since he got his Mark had been filled with dueling emotions and sensations: those of himself and those of his intended. Even when one of them was in pain, the other wasn’t, or felt a different pain in a different amount. For the first time in several months Eren could only feel one thing, and despite the newfound “privacy” he would have given anything to have the strange presence of another person’s emotions overriding his own.   
Though it hurt worse than when he was Marked, it definitely faded faster. Only a few moments after he’d collapsed the feeling began to lessen and Eren was able to open his eyes again. The sound of harsh gasps and heavy breath came to him first, and it took a few seconds for him to realize that the sounds were coming from him. Well, him and the person on his knees across from him. Levi, his mind supplied helpfully, the person across from him was named Levi. After that realization the rest of the world came back into focus rather quickly, his vision filled with worried green eyes and red hair. Isabel, his brain piped up again, Levi’s friend, the one who’s birthday it was.   
He sat up, rubbing gently at the small of his back, trying to process what she was saying to him. He was right, it was the brick wall of the room that he had fallen against, and his muscles apparently didn’t appreciate it. He groaned, brain finally catching up to Isabel’s rapid speech.  
“Eren, Eren, EREN. Are you ok? What happened? Did you hit your head? Can you hear me?” She looked over her shoulder at Farlan. “Farlan! He can’t hear me, what should I do? Oh god, what if he hit his head really bad and goes deaf?” She was hysterical, though Eren didn’t think it was that serious. Actually, he felt good. He felt a hell of a lot better than he had in ages.   
“I’m fine, Izzy, I just…” Eren trailed off. He had, in fact, no fucking clue what happened to him. He recalled his moment of clarity right when the pain started, clarity about Levi and the pair of overlapping wings that Eren was convinced decorated his back. He used one hand to push himself off the ground, using the wall as a support as he stood up slowly. Eren had played enough football to know what to expect after collapsing like that, but the rush of blood, headache, and soreness that usually came with falling into something as hard a brick wall were nowhere to be found. The good feeling from earlier was still there, even stronger somehow, completely the opposite of what he should have been experiencing.   
Eren pulled his eyes away from Isabel, who was still spouting questions, and cast them a few feet away to Levi, who had also managed to stand up from where he had fallen to his knees. Their eyes met again, and a new surge of that good feeling worked it’s way through him. Isabel and the other’s voices faded to the background as they blatantly stared at each other.   
Suddenly, Eren felt the ridiculous urge to take his shirt off, baring his Mark to the world. Of course, his logical side said that half stripping in front of a group of people he barely knew was a terrible idea, but since when had Eren ever listened to his logical side? Even Eren himself wouldn’t deny that the answer to that question was almost never. And it was definitely never when it came to matters of impulse decisions. This was certainly an impulse decision if he had ever made one.  
******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************  
Levi was pushing himself to his feet as soon as the pain subsided, fighter’s instincts searching for something to hit. There wasn’t of course, and this left him confused to no end. But then he remembered. Remembered that the pain had been coming from his Mark, and that it had started when he had been talking to Eren. A small thrill ran through Levi at the thought of the other boy, something warm and indescribably good.   
Amongst his thoughts of Eren, another thought took hold. For some odd reason he felt an urge, an itch, to take off his shirt and let the warm air of Sina’s backstage area touch his Mark. This was, he knew, possibly one of the most foolish and random ideas Levi’s brain had created in recent memory, but it was there nonetheless. It was an impulse decision, a type of thought that logic usually shut down seconds after creation. But it was there nonetheless. Without even realizing he’d moved it, Levi’s right hand drifted down to the hem of his shirt, grabbing onto the fabric there before logic could tell it not to. Logic said to move his hand, but it was there nonetheless.  
His eyes stayed locked on Eren’s for a moment more, then his view was obscured by the shirt he was pulling over his head. As he pulled, he also spun, so when the shirt was completely off his back was facing Eren. Levi looked over his shoulder, expecting to be greeted with the sight of his confused friends and an even more confused Eren.

Sometimes he really thought the universe got a kick out of shattering his expectations.

Instead of shocked faces, the only thing his eyes noticed when he looked over his shoulder was a pair of wings adorning smooth, tan skin. Naturally it wasn’t Levi’s own back that he was looking at, but it felt that way because the pattern he saw was the exact same one he had been seeing in a mirror for years. Every ridge, every curve, every fleck of color on the design was identical to his own, the only difference seeming to be the person whose skin in covered.   
And what a beautiful person that was. Levi knew he’s been staring at Eren all night, but there was so much more to stare at without all the pesky cloth in the way. Eren had muscles to rival Levi’s, and skin that made one wonder if it was natural or derived from spending years in the sun. He didn’t know how he knew, but Levi would have bet his entire life savings that it was natural. Pure, 100% Eren.  
He felt Eren’s eyes roaming over his back just as freely as Levi’s were roaming over Eren’s, and reveled in the attention. He didn’t know this person, had no idea what he was like, where he went to school, or even what his last name was, but he did know that something deep inside him craved Eren’s approval, yearned for his attention and affection. Levi had never felt anything like it before, but he never wanted to stop feeling it.  
Minutes felt like seconds, but pretty soon he became aware of the atmosphere in the room. Blushing slightly (but since when did Levi blush?), he put his shirt back on and turned to face the group again.   
Only to realize that he had no fucking clue what to say.  
What do you say to someone that fate had apparently decided you should spend the rest of your life with? In all the times Levi had imagined the moment there had never really been words to say, never been a clear plan of what to do once he and his intended found each other. According to Izzy it would “all work out eventually” no matter what he did, but Izzy had been known to give false information before, and besides, he had no idea how to make anything “just work out.”  
Eren was still staring, apparently knowing just as little as Levi about what to do in the unprecedented situation.  
“Uhh, hi,” was the only thing he could think to say, the only words his mouth seemed capable of forming. He flinched internally at how utterly stupid he sounded, at the fact that he couldn’t come up with a single legitimate thing to say to the beautiful person across from him.  
Yet, his words were met with a grin, a massive smile that lit up Eren’s whole face and Levi’s whole world. He vowed then, quickly and quietly and only to himself, that he would do anything and everything possible to keep Eren smiling like that. Eren’s hair fell into his face a bit, and he pushed it away in a gesture that seemed entirely subconscious.  
“Hey,” came his reply, and shit if it wasn’t as stupid of a word as Levi’s had been but still amazingly adorable and everything he needed to hear.   
Oh, Levi thought, this is going to be interesting.  
“So Eren, nice Mark you got there.”  
“You too.”  
And then they both grinned like idiots who had gotten away with something spectacular, smiling at each other for no reason and every reason there was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here it is. Sorry if it was a bit short, I just wanted to get something up so you guys would know I'm still here and writing before I moved on to longer chapters.   
> Comments are great, I love to hear from everyone, so hit me up.  
> And thanks for reading!  
> I promise to post way sooner next time, so expect a new chapter within the month.   
> ~your apologetic ( and late) author


	5. Et Postea Mane

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so, this took me forever to write. Thank you to all of you for dealing with my sucky timetable. And thanks a million to everyone who commented! There's nothing like reader support to lift me the heck out of writer's block and get me started again. I'll try to get the next one up sooner, but I have a busy few weeks ahead of me so please don't get too mad if it takes a little while. (School is really getting in the way of all my fanfic dreams) Anyway, thanks again so much, and enjoy!

Eren looked like an idiot. He was sure of it. His grin was ten miles wide and he had fucking giggled a minute ago. Giggled. His entire body was thrumming with energy, electricity beating through every muscle, pumping with every heartbeat. He had lived a good life. A life full of love and happiness and success and pure undulated joy, but this,THIS, this feeling took the cake. He had never felt happier, more elated. He was riding the world’s most powerful high, and it felt like he was never coming down.  
  
He wasn’t on drugs or anything though. God no, he might be a grade-A idiot, but he wasn’t stupid. Or maybe…….maybe he was on drugs. If drugs were made of hot grumpy boys with undercuts called Levi. Yeah, it was all Levi’s fault. After they’d met at The Basement they’d stayed and talked for hours before finally exchanging phone numbers. Ten little numbers typed into his smart phone. Ten. Numbers. And he was high off it.  
  
What felt like years, but was probably only minutes after leaving the club, he had practically skipped back to his dorm before flopping on the bed. He was still there, grinning like a fool and loving it. It turned out that he and Levi went to the same college, though they weren’t in the same year. That sort of sucked, but not nearly enough to dampen his mood. It meant that they probably wouldn’t have any classes together, but they could still bump into each other on campus, visit each other’s dorms, meet up after lectures, maybe eat lunch together…….the possibilities glowed and shined and expanded into infinity. He’d have to talk to everyone later, Armin and Mikasa needed to know he’d found THE ONE of course, but that would all come later. Now, he would just lie on his bed and smile.  
  
******************************************************************************************************************************  
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Reaching his arm out groggily, Eren slammed the top of his alarm with his fist to shut it up.  
  
“Five more minutes Mom.”  
  
“Eren, for the last time, I’m not your mother.” The comment ended with a soft laugh, immediately identifying the voice as Marco Bodt.  
  
“Marco, whaaa?”  
  
Marco, after sharing a dorm room with Eren for a few weeks, had quickly discovered that the aforementioned roommate was not a morning person. At all. Ever. He had, in fact, once threatened to ‘hunt Marco down and lucky charm his stupid ass’ multiple times, a phrase that never ceased to confuse Marco and amuse Eren. What mornings, threats, and breakfast cereal had to do with him Marco would never understand, but anything to get his roommate out of bed and to classes on time.  
  
“Its seven-o-clock Eren.”  
  
“Fuck.”  
  
Marco chuckled as he left their room, knowing that Eren would get up now, and also knowing that he’d get a fist to the face if he was still in the dorm when Eren realized that it was Sunday. His fears were affirmed when he heard Eren’s angry shout of “Damn it Bodt, it’s fucking Sunday!” followed by the sound of something cracking. Giving a fleeting thought to the hope that the crash hadn’t been anything important, he started whistling as he walked off.  
  
Eren meanwhile, was still recovering from a rather rude awakening, and nursing his knuckles because of the rather violent way he had just connected them with the wall. Eren and mornings went together like matches and dynamite, quickly, explosively, and often with damaging results. Mikasa still wouldn’t let him live down the time that he literally smashed an alarm clock on his first day of junior year, full on cartoon style with metal bits flying all over and everything. And early mornings on weekends? Let’s just say that a punch to the wall was peaceful compared to some past incidents.  
  
The bad mood faded quickly though, when he remembered the events of the previous night. The grin was back as wide as it was a few hours ago, and he set off to take a shower with a mind full of plans about how he was going to move forward with this newfound relationship.  
  
After a long, hot shower (because if he had to be awake on a weekend then he was gonna take advantage of it dammit), he went to check his phone for messages. It was always on the little table next to his bed, since that was the only place on his side of the room that was anywhere near an outlet. As he walked up to it the screen lit up and Brian Johnson’s screaming voice filled the room, announcing a new text. Nothing like a little AC DC to get someone’s attention right? A few taps later and his phone was open, displaying fifty-two new texts. What the hell? Six from Armin, twelve from Mikasa, and the rest were from an unknown number.  
  
Armin’s first four were just asking how the show went, talking about plans for the weekend, and telling Eren how class went. The last two were a little strange.  
  
“Who’s this Levi guy Eren?”  
  
Then, a few minutes later.  
  
“Wow, ok, he’s hot. Congrats.”  
  
Where had Armin heard about Levi? Or seen him for that matter? Eren had only met him the previous day after all. Mikasa’s texts seemed to follow the same pattern, asking about the show, then totally exploding with questions about Levi.  
  
The clock on his nightstand read 8:00, meaning Mikasa would already be up and back from her morning run. They used to run together all the time, especially during the football season, but he hadn’t had much time or energy for it lately. He would practice guitar in the mornings or between classes instead of running, but he knew that Mikasa still kept up the tradition. She was quick though, so it was pretty likely that she would answer if he called now.  
  
It only took three rings before he heard her voice on the other end of the call.  
  
“What the fuck Eren? You have your first show, AND find the guy with your Mark and you can’t be bothered to answer your damn phone? I bet you passed out on your floor or something. You did, didn’t you? Good God Eren, you’re a real idiot, you know that?”  
  
Eren slid his hand down his face, groaning.  
  
“Hi to you too Mikasa.”  
  
“Don’t you ‘hi’ me! Answer your damn texts for once.”  
  
“Sorry! It was a late night. And an early morning. I just got out of the shower so calm the hell down.”  
  
He could hear her measured breathing on the line, clearly meant to try to keep her from shouting. A few seconds later her voice was back, and sounding decidedly more reasonable.  
  
“Ok. You’re right. I freaked. So, Levi huh?” she asked.  
  
“Yeah, Levi. Hey, where’d you even hear about him? Did you tell Armin too, ‘cause I sure as heck didn’t, but he’s texted me a bunch of times.”  
  
Mikasa smiled, though Eren couldn’t see it. “My roommate was at the party. Apparently she and Izzy are good friends, so she saw the whole Mark-pain-followed-by-puppy-eyes thing that you two apparently had going on.”  
  
Eren snorted. “Puppy eyes? Wait, your roommate? Does she have brown hair, chunky glasses, and ask too many questions at once?”  
  
“That’s about a perfect description yeah,” came the answer.  
  
Ha. Of all the people for Mikasa to be stuck with for a roommate….  
  
“Wait, isn’t she a sophomore?”  
  
“She apparently wanted to be in the freshman dorms for a ‘people watching’ experiment.”  
  
He shuddered. “Is that as creepy as it sounds?”  
  
“Absolutely. Anyway, seriously, what’s he like?”  
  
“He’s hot.’  
  
Silence.  
  
“And, he’s majoring in dead languages.”  
  
“Well, that explains all the Latin you were complaining about a few days ago.”  
  
Eren got off the phone about an hour later, cursing the loss of his Sunday morning but looking forward to the day ahead. Maybe he’d call Levi and they could meet up. But first, he had one thing to deal with.  
  
***********************************************************************************************************************  
‘Who the hell is this, and why are you texting me?’ read the text.  
  
Hanji was impressed. He was cute, and texted with proper punctuation and complete sentences. She had swiped Levi’s phone for a few minutes the night before, copied Eren’s number into her phone, and gotten to work thinking about all the questions she had for him. Levi was terrible with emotional expression, especially when it came to romance, so she had made it her personal mission to do all she could to help the two of them out.  
  
‘Dr. Hanji, at your service,” she responded.  
  
Oh, this was going to be fun.  
  
***************************************************************************************************************************  
Levi woke up late, for him at least, and felt an unexplained pain in his hand. He hadn’t done any training last night, but it felt like he had punched a wall. What kind of idiot punches something like a wall anyway? It doesn’t do anything but hurt your hand.  
  
No, there hadn’t been training last night, but there sure as hell had been something else. Eren. Eren had been there, standing in the strobe lighting of the club like a goddamned warrior angel or some shit. He looked like even more of an angel when Levi got to see the wings spanning the entirety of his back. It had been a glorious sight, and one that he would definitely not mind seeing again.  
  
It was Sunday though, and that meant that he and Hanji were going out for breakfast, and she would undoubtedly want the full scoop on his and Eren’s chat last night. He got dressed with a sigh, and prepared himself for the barrage of questions.  
  
*************************************************************************************************************************  
(Last night)

“That’s amazing Levi!”  
  
Levi wouldn’t. Would. Not. Ever. Admit to anyone how he was feeling, but he was absolutely glowing with happiness. Eren was hilarious, and they had been exchanging stories from high school for a good forty-five minutes. He had just told Eren about the time he had helped Izzy sneak out of the house by climbing the tree outside her window and pulling her over the three feet of gap between it and the windowsill.  
  
For some reason, Eren thought that this was the coolest story ever, and was smiling at Levi like his goal in life was to light up the whole damn world with it.  
  
“It was pretty routine after that actually. She always needed to sneak out because her parents were ridiculously strict, but she could never bring herself to just jump the gap.”  
  
“It’s really nice that you would bother to help her out so much,” Eren said softly.  
  
Levi coughed, trying to hide his blush. “I’m not a sap or anything Eren, so don’t go around thinkin’ it.”  
  
“I think it’s really sweet.”  
  
Well, so much for hiding the blush. Maybe he could just play it off as bad lighting.  
  
“You remind me a lot of my sister actually. You’re cuter though, so thank god we’re not related, even by adoption.”  
  
No lighting was bad enough to excuse this one.  
  
“Thanks.”  
  
Another blinding smile followed that comment, and Levi was absolutely positive that he would do anything at all to make sure it never faded. He cracked jokes for the rest of the conversation, dry, crude humor of course, telling stories and enjoying someone’s company in a way he hadn’t for ages. There was something about Eren, something that made him seem like so much more than just another college student. Levi didn’t understand, physically could not comprehend the fact that Eren was meant for him. Meant to be with him.  
  
“Oh, crap, it’s 1:00 am!”  
  
Eren’s exclamation cut through Levi’s thoughts like an alarm cutting through sleep, pulling his attention back to the conversation. A quick check of his phone showed that he was right, it was an hour past midnight, and well past time for him to be in bed. Or, past time for Eren to be in bed. Levi had a bad case of insomnia, and rarely slept more than four hours a night.  
  
“It is.”  
  
“I’m sorry, but I have to go. It’s really late.” Eren was running his hands through his hair, messing it up spectacularly. It almost looked like Eren was worried that Levi might be mad about him leaving ‘early,’ but Levi was semi-convinced that nothing could ever make him mad at Eren, much less something like this.  
  
“Can I get your number before you leave?” he asked.  
  
Eren’s mouth opened in an ‘O’ shape, and he scrambled to pull out his phone. He quickly read the digits out, then asked for Levi’s number in return. A few moments later, they were both lingering by the door, obviously trying to avoid being the first to say goodbye. Eren’s eyes were shifting between Levi and the sidewalk, looking exhausted yet reluctant to go.  
  
“Bye Eren,” Levi spoke up. He hated it, he really did, but the kid needed sleep, and he needed time to process the events of the night.  
  
“Bye,” Eren said, turning to go.  
  
Levi turned too, but as soon as he did his entire body was encircled by something soft and warm that smelled like vanilla and apples. Hot breath tickled his ear, and he just barely heard the ‘See you later’ that was murmured against it. Then, the feeling was gone, and so was Eren. Vanished into the night without a sound.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case anyone is interested, the chapter title is "the morning afterwards" in Latin. (I used Google translate though, so no guarantees on correctness) I wanted to get this up, so if there are any errors I missed in my brief editing, please let me know!
> 
> Other than that, thanks for reading! 
> 
> Leave a comment if you feel like it, they're always spectacular to read! ;)  
> 'Till next time (which is hopefully relatively soon) 
> 
> ~your (mildly) stressed author


	6. Sleepless Nights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so, I'm officially the worst person ever for posting this so late. The past few months have been sort of tough, so writing has been hard.  
> *Actual footage of these past months*  
> Me: Ok, time to write!  
> Writer's Block: LOL, nope  
> School: 17 essays, 12 projects, and finals week  
> Parents: Responsibilities and homophobic extended family to talk to  
> Brain: Time for worries, fears, and exhaustion  
> Me: Fuck
> 
> But.......here it is. It's pretty unedited, so please let me know if there are mistakes. And, as always, thanks so much for commenting, leaving kudos, or just reading! You're all the best ;)

Levi stared at the phone in his hand, his forehead scrunched up as he frowned down at it. He wanted to call Eren. Or text him. Or, anything really. It had only been a few days since they met though, and he wasn’t exactly up to date on when it was too late or too soon to text. He’d only ever had one night stands, and there were never phone numbers or societal rules involved in those. He couldn’t call that moment of course, seeing as it was four in the morning on a Tuesday night, but he was staring at it nonetheless.

He shut his eyes and groaned, sick of the same thoughts running through his head, but unable to make a decision. He had replayed the few seconds of the hug Eren had given him that night in his mind many more times than he would ever admit. He could still feel the warmth of the other boy’s arms, and the cold that came after they left. He was hopeless. Really, truly hopeless. When had he become such a fucking schoolgirl? He wasn’t that much of a loner, or an idiot. Hell, he wasn’t even a virgin. So why was he so freaked out about this? Fate itself had bothered to put fucking wings on both their backs, JUST so they’d know they were meant for each other. It was destiny. Literal destiny. He should really just text him.  
  
He should…….but he’d given Eren his number too. Maybe Eren was waiting for him to text first. Or maybe he didn’t want to see Levi again. Why hasn't he texted already? Eren seemed to be really confident, and he knew from the one conversation they’d that he had lots of friends, so he definitely knew how to handle himself in social situations….  
  
That train of thought was interrupted by a buzz from the phone in his lap. It lit up, making a little chime and telling him that he had a new message. Probably Hanji, he thought. It was four in the goddamned morning, so it really couldn’t be anyone other than Hanji. Yet, the ID on the screen didn’t say ‘Godawful Glasses.’ (Those were the words he’d put in as his friend’s contact directly after she sent him a picture of the new pieces of plastic that were meant to stop her from being blind, but did nothing to dampen her levels of annoying.) Instead it read ‘Caerula,’ the literal translation of which was ‘blue ocean.’ Eren. He knew the name was disgustingly sappy, but it was one of the things that ran through his head every time he thought of Eren. The depths of his eyes, and, naturally, the latin translation of their color, had not left Levi’s thoughts for days.  
  
What the fuck was he doing up though?  
  
Levi clicked open his phone, and read the message quickly.  
  
‘If you want to text me, then just do it. You’re the badass one here right? I wouldn’t have thought that a few words on a screen could keep you up so much.’  
  
A second one came in right after the first, cutting off the reply that Levi had started typing out.  
  
‘Plus, fuck society. It’s never ‘too early’ or ‘too late’ to text the dude who the fucking universe decided is supposed to end up with you.’  
  
Levi smirked a little at that, mentally kicking himself for thinking that the fact that Eren used proper grammar in texts was cute. But, wait, how the hell had he known what Levi was thinking? EXACTLY what he’d been thinking? He started to type out a question, but was interrupted once more by his phone. Except, this time it was a call.  
  
“Hello,” Levi said nervously.  
  
“Hey.” Eren sounded exhausted, and his voice had none of the excitement and emotion that Levi had already begun to associate with the younger boy.  
  
“What’s wrong?” he asked. Short, sweet, and to the point. He had less than no clue about how to handle himself in this situation, so Levi focused on fixing the immediate issues and resolved to figure out his emotional shit later.  
  
“I haven’t been able to sleep much recently,” came the reply.  
  
Levi was instantly worried. He never slept, but he was painfully aware of just how impossible his schedule was for normal people. If Eren couldn’t sleep, then there was definitely something wrong.  
  
“Why not?” he questioned.  
  
“You and your damn insomnia you bastard,” Eren said, but not without a hint of joking in his voice.  
  
Levi, for his part, had absolutely no response for that.  
  
“I mean,” Eren continued, “You are up EVERY NIGHT thinking about whether-or-not-to-call-me until asscrack in the morning, which I’m starting to think is scarily normal for you, and you’re worrying so much that your actual thoughts are broadcasting like a damn airhorn in my head all night.”  
  
Levi winced, just the thought of causing Eren to sound so irritated making him cringe.  
  
“I’m sorry,” he said simply.  
  
Eren sighed softy. When he spoke next, his voice was lighter and happier.  
  
“I know. Just, come on man, you’re the untouchable one with the punk haircut and the glare-eyes that could kill a man if you wanted them to. I gave you my number for god's sakes, and I promise that I would not have done so if I didn’t want you to freaking use it.”  
  
Levi was by no means an idiot, but he felt like one in that moment more so than ever before.  
  
“I-” he started. He paused, collecting his thoughts, before asking, “Do you want to go out sometime?”  
  
A genuine laugh came from the end of the line.  
  
“Yeah,” Eren chuckled, “I’d like that.”  
  
And if they stayed up the rest of the night talking about everything and nothing at all, then that was no one’s business but their own.  
  
*************************************************************************************************************************************  
Waking up after a ‘good night’s sleep’, Eren decided, was highly overrated. He could either stay up talking to Levi, real Levi, or go to sleep and have colorless, fake dreams of fake Levi. Real life was so much better than any half-assed imagery Eren’s mind could come up with.  
  
It was funny, he thought, that Levi hadn’t been tapping into the Link the way he had. For six nights after the day they met, Levi’s emotions and thoughts had been as clear to him as Julie Andrews’ voice in ‘The Sound of Music.’ Yes, he was a musical nerd. No, he wasn’t ashamed of it. Not even a little.  
  
All the worry and anxiety coming from Levi had made into a walking cloud of gloom-and-doom for the entire school week, and he was sure that his friends would be relieved that it was over. Because it was. They had talked, for hours, and eventually set up a meeting time, (date?), for that Sunday. They were going out for dinner at a local burger place, and maybe to Eren’s dorm for a movie later. Maybe. Eren wasn’t yet sure how the mechanics of that would work out. How close would they have to sit? It wasn’t that big of a couch, nothing’s big in a college dorm, and he only had one blanket, so they might have to share. Did Levi like popcorn? Or musicals? What the hell were they going to watch? He was such a hypocrite, wasn’t he? Eren was practically as emotionally constipated as Levi. Oh well. He decided to honor an age old Eren Jeager tradition. Push the problem to the back of his mind and forget about it until it went away for forced itself back into a position of importance. In the meantime, focus on other things.  
  
‘Caerula.’ It was cute.  
  
**********************************************************************************************************************************  
Eren looked good. He looked the kind of effortless good that Levi used to be able to pull off. That is, until all his self-confidence seemed to down the drain along with his ability to sensibly communicate with hot German boys.  
  
Levi, of course, had already gotten a table. He made a distinct point to never be late, no matter how long he spent in front of a mirror trying to find a decent outfit that was just the right side of casual.  
  
“Levi!” Eren called as soon as he entered.  
  
Levi just gave a small wave and watched as Eren made his way over to the table.  
  
Sliding into a chair across from Levi, Eren slid a small pack off his back and slung it around the back of his chair. He hadn’t really noticed the strap crossing Eren’s chest when he entered, being too absorbed in looking at his smile, but now he did notice, and he was curious.  
  
“What’s that?” he asked by way of greeting.  
  
Eren looked a little surprised at the question, but his smile never faltered as he answered.  
  
“It’s my wallet, phone, keys and stuff. I don’t like carrying everything in my pockets, ‘cause stuff always gets lost, so I use this.” He tapped the object lightly. “Plus, it slings over my shoulder so it’s easy to carry.”  
  
Levi really couldn’t help himself.  
  
“So, it’s a purse?”  
  
Eren’s face flushed crimson, and he self-consciously smoothed a bit of hair behind his ear.  
  
“I-It’s totally not a p-purse,” he spluttered awkwardly.  
  
Levi grinned and leaned forward.  
  
“Eren, that is definitely a purse.”  
  
They bickered about whether it was a purse, a ‘man-purse’, or a backpack for a few minutes, before ordering. A burger for Eren, (‘They’re the best in town Levi, I don’t really care if it’s unhealthy’), and a small salad for Levi (‘I don’t eat much anyway, but you can have fun with your greasy meat bread). All the tension that he had been worrying about never made an appearance. Being with Eren felt as natural as breathing. Awkwardness and tension had no place in their own little slice of the world in that moment.  
  
A while into their meal Levi began to notice things. He had once again been so absorbed in Eren’s eyes that he hadn’t noticed what was going on with his hands.  
  
“Are you cutting up your burger?”  
  
Eren nodded, as if every sensible American used a damn fork and knife to eat burgers with.  
  
“Yeah. It’s the way of eating in Germany, in most of Europe actually, so I picked it up from my parents and all the times we’ve gone to Berlin.”  
  
He just nodded, filing the information away for future reference. He had already started a mental collection of all Eren’s little quirks. He wondered what other things Eren did subconsciously. What were his nervous tics? Was he a happy drunk or a crazy one? What would he look like in the morning with the sun shining on his face just perfectly-  
  
“Levi?”  
  
He immediately snapped back to the present, trying to focus on Eren’s words instead of what he would look like waking up in Levi’s bed for a lazy Saturday morning.  
  
“Sorry, I was a little distracted. What did you say?”  
  
Eren smiled softly, looking earnest and almost painfully curious.  
  
“I asked why you never sleep. I’ve been able to tell when you were awake for the past few days, and you never really seem to get more than, like, four hours or some crazy number. I don’t want to say I’m worried necessarily, but I’ve been there before, so, is it nightmares or something?” His big blue eyes were shining, and he looked for all the world like a boy who was ready to be shot down, but asked the question nonetheless. Of course, it was kind of personal. Really personal if Levi was honest, but Eren was the kind of guy that just made you want to spill your secrets and let him hug all your problems away. He shrugged.  
  
“I never really have. When I was younger, going to sleep early was dangerous. Bad things come in the night, but you’re far harder to kill if you’re awake. By the time I got to a place where staying awake wasn’t necessary, it was too much of a habit for me to really sleep. Now I just use the time to clean and do homework.”  
  
Levi blinked. He hadn’t meant to say nearly that much, even though it was still really vague information. No one knew the story of his past except him, not even Hanji and Erwin. Yet, he’d known Eren for all of a week and he was already starting to dump the whole story on him.  
  
“This is going to sound stupid, but maybe you should try again,” came Eren’s response. His voice was quiet and soothing, the kind of voice that seemed to belong more in a music video than a little diner in a college town. “It’s been years, so you never know if the habit’s still there. Even if it is, you should at least try. I can feel how tired you are so...maybe…”  
  
He trailed off, but Levi understood exactly what he was trying to say. Eren cared, enough to not ask questions about the story he’d half told, and enough to gently tell Levi to try and take better care of himself. Later than night, wrapped in Eren’s arms on a small couch while the final credits of ‘The Sound of Music’ scrolled by on the screen, and listening to Eren softly hum, he slept. He slept deeply and soundly, and he didn’t wake up until eight hours later with the sun streaming through a window and lighting on a pair of brilliant blue eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> .....yay?
> 
> I promise to start the real plot next chapter, but I will not apologize for my addiction to fluff. The show/manga is alrEADY SAD DAMNIT and I refuse to make things hurt more than they already do. There will be more than just fluff though so.....
> 
> Please comment or leave kudos, you really have no idea how much it means to me!
> 
> Thanks for reading!  
> (And I hope the next one will be up sooner than this one was)
> 
> ~your happy-because-of-relief-mixed-with-exhaustion author  
> (So damn happy I finally got this up!)

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so now that you've read my exposition word barf......any questions? Suggestions, questions, confusions?   
> COMMENT ME! I love hearing from y'all, so leave a meassage for me my dear readers
> 
>  
> 
> Please no hate though. If you don't like this then don't read it, 'kay? I don't need to hear your hate, especially on chapter one.
> 
> That said, thanks for reading!   
> ~ your nerdy author


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